GFast Progress Highlights Path to Gigabit Society

Given the fast pace of progress with G.fast, it’s sometimes difficult to believe that the ITU gave its final approval for the ITUT-T G.9701 G.fast standard just three short years ago. Since then, G.fast has established itself as a key enabler of the Gigabit society, with 22 carriers in 18 countries having deployed or trialed the technology as of 2016. Ovum predicts 30 million G.fast subscribers by 2021.

Accelerating G.fast innovation is significantly contributing to this progress. This latest example includes lab trials of coordinated dynamic time allocation (cDTA) and 212 Mhz transmission. Deutsche Telekom (DT) is in lab trials with ADTRAN for these latest innovations, which promise to enable gigabit type performance over a single copper pair. DT is evaluating this technology for fiber-to-the-building applications, which will enable ultra-broadband access at lower cost than FTTP, and with less disruption to customers.

Using the new 212 MHz G.fast standard effectively doubles the usable spectrum, greatly increasing bandwidth performance. Combine that with the cDTA, and G.fast upstream performance is improved for carriers like DT by four to five times. cDTA dynamically balances upstream and downstream capacity to match residential traffic patterns in real-time and also is specifically designed to extend this performance over existing phone and internet wiring, greatly expanding its application to consumer and business premises all across the globe.

G.fast innovations like this demonstrate the role G.fast will play in enabling the Gigabit society, which is increasingly the focus of governments and institutions all across the world. By leveraging existing copper and coaxial wiring to deliver Gigabit type performance, these visions become attainable, given the reduction in cost attributable to leveraging existing wiring. Fiber like gigabit performance is now achievable, without the significant cost of bringing fiber all the way to the premises.

“Operators in highly competitive, dense urban or urban environments are challenged to extend gigabit services due to the time and cost that can be associated with pure play FTTH techniques,” said Jay Wilson, senior vice president at ADTRAN. “With G.fast innovation, operators, such as DT, can significantly accelerate Gigabit Society goals by launching gigabit services over their existing infrastructure dramatically reducing subscriber disruption.”
G.fast innovation and progress marches on.

Kurt Raaflaub leads ADTRAN’s strategic solutions marketing, and has more than 20 years of experience in telecom.